Total pages in book: 189
Estimated words: 178200 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 891(@200wpm)___ 713(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 178200 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 891(@200wpm)___ 713(@250wpm)___ 594(@300wpm)
When Damen released Mairi, her gaze was still a little bemused. And when he smiled down at her, she smiled back dazedly. “Hi.”
He laughed. “Somehow I knew you would say that.” Not wanting to let her go completely, Damen kept an arm around her waist while lowering the cup on the table. Afterwards, he swept her up in his arms.
She gasped. “Damen!”
He mock-gasped in return. “Mairi.”
She swallowed.
He slowly shook his head.
Mairi blinked at the disapproving twist of Damen’s lips. “What did I do?”
“You swallowed,” he said seriously. “And this time I can’t let that one go. This time, you will swallow something else.”
She was still choking by the time he had carried her all the way up to the master’s bedroom on the second floor. And instead of gently laying her down on the bed, Damen surprised her once more by tossing her in the middle of it instead. She laughed as she bounced on it and she shrieked and giggled when he came diving after her.
This playful side of Damen Leventis was not something she had expected to see, but she loved it. She loved it so much because she had a really good feeling that Damen did not reveal this side of him to just anyone.
Again, he made swift work of her clothes but this time Mairi did her best to undress him as well. Her fingers fumbled a lot of times but by the time he had her completely bare, she had at least succeeded in getting his shirt off.
He started to take off his belt and pants, but she shook her head. “Let me.”
She had a cute look of perseverance on her face, looking at his lower half like it was a Sudoku puzzle for her to solve. It was a very sexy look, dammit, and it took extraordinary control for Damen to let go and allow Mairi to take over.
When she finally managed to wrestle his pants off, she immediately tossed it off the bed. She looked back at Damen, but her smile faded at the sight of his burgeoning cock under his boxers.
Oh dear.
She had somehow managed to forget that he was not exactly lacking in size.
“Mairi?” She was paler than usual for some reason.
She managed a weak smile. “That...umm...” Her gaze went back to his boxers, which was stretched tautly across his hips and thighs. “You’re...umm...”
“Say what you want to say, Mairi.”
“Well...” She coughed delicately before mumbling in Latin.
He demanded, “What do you mean you’re a virgin?”
Chapter 9
She cried out, “How can you speak Latin?”
Damen stared hard at Mairi, wondering what the fuck it meant if she was indeed a virgin like she had just said she was. From thinking he had everything planned and under his control, Damen suddenly felt like he didn’t know a goddamn thing. If Mairi was a virgin, if she was not a gold digger...
Just because she was untouched did not mean she was entirely innocent, a snide voice intruded in his mind. Mairi could just be a lot smarter than most other women, biding her time and making sure she offered her virginity to the man who could offer the highest possible bid.
Mairi covered herself when Damen only continued to look at her, his gaze cold.
The hurt on her face made Damen curse silently. “I’m sorry,” he said roughly, pulling her into his arms. When Mairi remained stiff against him, Damen found himself pressing a kiss to her hair – a first for him, actually, since he did not do tender gestures as a rule.
Slowly, she relaxed against Damen. “I thought you’d be pleased I was a virgin,” she admitted, determined to be honest even though she was more than a little confused and hurt. In all the stories she had read, the Greek billionaire hero was supposed to be happy about his woman being a virgin. So why was Damen Leventis different?
Damen could not believe Mairi had said such words. It was as if she truly was admitting that she had deliberately kept herself pure, waiting until a man wealthy enough for her tastes would take it – for the right price.
Could she be that calculating?
But then – hadn’t his mother been just as calculating?
“I am pleased.” He paused and when he resumed speaking, his voice had hardened. “But it will only make me more possessive towards you, Mairi. Do you understand what that means?”
Her heart beat madly. Yes, she knew. It meant he was basically telling her he loved her, but like the Greek billionaires in her favorite stories, he just had some weird hang-up from his past he needed to get over. And when he did, he would realize he was in love with her—-
The truth dawned on her.
Oh dear.
He would realize he was in love with her, just like she was just realizing now she had fallen in love with him...at first sight.